Dust: Tales of the Other World
by Light Wolf Moon
Summary: General Gaius is dead and Dust thought it was the end when he became trapped in the volcano. What he didn't expect to happen was him living through it and end up in a completely different world much like his own in a scenario similar to what he had faced. This time it is the Warmbloods that are in trouble, the Moonbloods hunting them down. How will Dust handle it this time?
1. Prologue

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN DUST: AN ELYSIAN TALE! IT BELONGS TO ITS ORIGINAL OWNER!**

As Dust landed the final blow on General Gaius, ending the battle between them, an explosion of magma went off behind Dust, injuring him. He blacked out for a few moments, the volcano starting to become active as the magma flowed like a raging river.

"Cassius!" General Gaius yelled.

Dust started crawling towards the ledge that he held onto. Once he reached it, he shakily held out his hand.

"You... you're not Cassius," General Gaius said as he held onto Dust's arm, looking up at him.

"Yes, I am," Dust responded, nodding his head.

"Yes... you are. But Cassius is gone now... as is the world we once loved," was the general's answer as he closed his eyes. He grabbed onto Dust's arm with his other hand and pulled himself up a litter, opening his eyes to look at Dust in the eye. "Cherish it."

With that, he threw himself off, falling into the mouth of the Everdawn Basin. Dust reached out to try and grab him, but lowered his head in defeat. He rolled over onto his back and closed his eyes.

_Dust?! Dust!? _ Someone was calling his name. Dust opened his eyes halfway.

"Fidget! There I see him!" Ginger cried out from above at the mouth of the Everdawn Basin.

Fidget came flying over, calling, "Dust!? Dust!"

Dust was weakly pulling himself up, bracing against a rock. "Fidget, get out. Go," he said as he turned to look at her, making a 'get out of here' gesture.

Her voice trembling, she told him, "Not without you! C'mon, Dust! Get up!" She grabbed onto his cape and tried to pull him up, trying to drag him with her. "We did everything right, Dust... Everything we were supposed to do," she said, trying not to cry as she dropped his cape that she was holding.

"And sometimes that's not enough, Fidget. When the Life Thread calls-..." Dust looked away from her, closing his eyes. Fidget looked down sadly, trying her hardest not to let her tears flow. "Fidget... thank you," he told her, looking back up at her.

"Goodbye... Dust," Fidget said, tears welling up in her eyes.

Dust watched her fly out of the Everdawn basin, and saw Ginger gazing down at him sadly from the mouth. He closed his eyes as the magma flowed around him, devouring anything in its path. Then it flowed on him. Dust felt a tugging, almost like something was guiding him. His essence flew with the wind, carrying Ahrah with it.

**AN: Hello everyone, this isn't my first story, but this is my first story here on FF. To be honest, I had a little bit of a hard time trying to type this part up since the scene was a little sad to not only watch but to type, too. I had to watch the ending cutscene a few times to actually get it typed. I have no idea whether I want to consider this an AU or not given the plot I have in mind, but I guess I'll see where this goes. As a heads up, it will follow a similar plot, but it will contain some original ideas. Also, my FC will be showing up in the story.**

******But if anyone does spot a small mistake I missed feel free to point it out. It helps me out a little when trying to make sure each chapter is grammatically correct without any spelling errors**.


	2. Chapter 1

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN DUST: AN ELYSIAN TALE! IT BELONGS TO ITS ORIGINAL OWNER!**

Cool grass swayed gently in the breeze, brushing against Dust's fur. He opened his, seeing the blue sky above him surrounded by the leaves of the trees. He sat up slowly, rubbing his head with his hand. He was shocked. The last thing he remembered was the fight in the Everdawn Basin and the magma coming at him. He looked around and recognized where he was. He was back at the Glade. He spotted Ahrah next to him. Picking him up, he asked the sword, "Ahrah, how... how did I survive? The magma should have killed me."

"I do not know, Dust. However you survived is unknown. I sense something is amiss, however," the sword replied.

"Amiss? What's wrong?" Dust asked, confused.

"I'm not sure. Aurora Village is nearby. Let us head there and find out," Ahrah told Dust.

"Alright," Dust said.

Dust got up and started heading down the mountain. As usual there were monsters, but they weren't hard to beat. It took sometime for Dust to make his way down the mountainside, but not as long as the first time. This time he knew where to go. Dust was beginning to miss having Fidget around. Her constant chatter and humor had made the journey less quiet. The only one he had with him was Ahrah. The rain came and went as he walked. He trekked to a cliff edge a little further down the mountain, taking in the scene. He saw off in the distance a village, one which he knew well: Aurora Village. Dust hiked down to the valley floor and started to continue until Ahrah stopped him.

"Take care Dust, we are not alone. Someone else is here as well," the sword spoke.

"Who?" Dust asked, looking around in between the trees.

No answer was needed as he spotted a familiar sight of armor. He knew right away that they were General Gaius's men. Dust was careful as he sneaked past them, hiding behind trees when they turned around. He couldn't figure out why they were in The Glade. There was nothing important here as far as he knew. He thought that perhaps they were looking for revenge for the death of their general.

As soon as he was far enough away from them, Dust asked, "Ahrah, do you have any idea why they are here?"

"I do not know. What ever they are here for, they didn't seem to notice your presence. It would be best to leave here before they do notice you are here," Ahrah suggested.

"Good idea," Dust replied as he carefully made his way to Aurora Village. He stopped whenever he heard a noise and carefully kept an eye out for the soldiers. Dust walked past the house that belonged to Cora, the elderly person that he had helped out before. He remembered that she had said that she felt the Life Thread calling for her back in The Sorrowing Meadows and wondered how she was doing now. Was she finally with her husband? He shook his head and continued on his way. He knew she was with the Life Thread now. Dust went on his way to the farm that belonged to an old married couple, Oneida and Geehan. As he neared it, he saw a couple soldiers of General Gaius's army. They were fending off some monsters that wandered too close to the farmland. Dust saw that they could handle them, so he sneaked around the back and quickly left.

"This is too weird. General Gaius never had his army down this far. You were right Ahrah, something is not right here," Dust said once they were out of earshot.

"We may find the answers in Aurora Village. Make haste but be careful. Until we know they're plans, it would be wise to avoid confrontation with them," the Elysium Sword said.

"Yes, and hopefully we can figure it out," Dust replied.

Aurora Village wasn't too far away. The farmlands were located just outside of Aurora Village so the trip there was pretty short. The village guards, Calum and Bean, were on duty and standing near the front gates. As soon as they saw him, they ran up to him.

"How did it go? Find any Moonbloods?" Bean asked.

"What? No, I didn't find any Moonbloods..." Dust replied, confused. I didn't even see the merchant, Sereth...

"None? I thought for sure there were Moonbloods," Calum said.

"As far as I saw, there weren't any. Perhaps one of the others may find something?" Dust suggested.

"Alright," Calum stated.

Dust walked away, making it look like he was having a conversation. He noticed that some of the men were looking at him and whispering, but he was too far away to hear what they were saying. When he saw a couple of them run off, Dust quickly started to head of the other gate to leave. He was about to leave before a couple of the soldiers approached him.

"Excuse me, you'll be coming with us," one of them said.

"And if I don't?" Dust asked.

"We'll take you by force," the other replied.

"What exactly do you need me for?" he asked.

"General Gaius wants to see you," was the soldier's reply.

General Gaius?! He's alive? Was Dust's first thought. Instead, he only said, "What for?"

"You look suspiciously like someone," was the only response he received.

"It would be wise not to cause any trouble, Dust. It also appears that General Gaius is alive. Go with them. We may be able to find out something," Ahrah murmured so that only Dust could hear.

"Alright, I'll go," Dust said, replying to both the soldiers and to Ahrah.

The soldiers led Dust to the village center. Standing there in the center was General Gaius, talking to a couple of the soldiers. The soldiers ran off and General Gaius turned to look at them, surprise written on his face when he saw Dust.

"Cassius? Is that you my friend?" General Gaius asked, surprise and relief in his voice.

"General Gaius, how are you still alive? The last time we met we fought and I defeated you. You fell into the Everdawn Basin after the battle," Dust questioned instead.

Now not only did General Gaius look confused, he also looked worried. "What do you mean? We never fought and I never went to the Everdawn Basin. Cassius what happened? What did those Moonbloods do to you?"

"I am not Cassius, Gaius. I am Dust. The Moonbloods did nothing to me. You're the one hunting them down!" Dust argued.

"Hunting them? Cassius, they're the ones hunting us! Don't you remember?" Gaius asked.

"I don't believe that!"

General Gaius was about to say something when two soldiers ran up to him. They noticed Dust, but they didn't say anything about him. Instead they informed General Gaius about spotting a group of Moonbloods close to the base of the mountain. They were fighting back, but was struggling to hold them off. He told them to return and that he would be there to help. They ran off to help their comrades, General Gaius taking a brief moment to look at Dust and say, "Cassius, if you don't believe me then come with me and see for yourself what those Moonbloods are doing" before following after them.

"Dust, follow them and see if what he says is true," Ahrah suggested.

"Good idea," Dust agreed.

Dust quickly followed after them. As he got closer, he heard sounds of battle. He broke through the brush and saw that at least twenty Moonbloods were fighting against fifteen soldiers. General Gaius was in the middle, outnumbered and fighting against two Moonbloods at once. Dust dove into the fray, attempting to locate the leader of this band of Moonbloods. He tried his hardest not to fight against either of the opposing sides. When he was able to locate him, he saw that he was fighting against General Gaius. Unfortunately, when he called out to the Moonblood, the Moonblood refused to listen and responded by attacking him. General Gaius took notice of this and blocked the attack on Dust, leaving himself open to attack from the other Moonblood. Dust saw this and attacked him, killing him in the process before retaliating against the leader. The Moonblood couldn't block, and before he died he saw Dust and whispered, "Sen-Mithrarin?"

The rest of the Moonbloods retreated upon seeing their fallen leader. The soldiers cheered upon the victory and seeing who they thought was Cassius. General Gaius approached Dust, saying, "Now do you see what I mean? We do not attack the Moonbloods, they attack us."

"I don't get it. Why are they attacking?" he asked.

"We do not know why they attack us. We were at peace with them for the longest time until this started," the general responded.

"When did it start?"

"A few years ago."

"Nothing makes sense. The Moonbloods wouldn't attack for no reason and how can General Gaius still be alive?" Dust muttered to himself.

"Cassius, do you believe me now? We can help you," General Gaius told Dust. "I do not know what happened that day, but whatever happened we can help you remember what you forgot and get rid of those lies that you know."

"This may be our only opportunity to find answers, Dust, as to what is going on. It may be best to pretend to be Cassius for a little while," the sword murmered so that only Dust could hear.

"Alright, I accept," Dust gave his answer.

"I knew that you might. Let us go home to rest and re-plan the attacks," the general said gratefully, a hint of his relief in his eyes.

"Home? Where's that?" Dust asked, confused.

General Gaius responded, "The capital, Salina."

The soldiers and Dust started heading back. Only General Gaius remained, pondering to himself, "Sen-Mithrarin? What did that Moonblood mean, calling Cassius that?"

**AN: Okay so I think this might be an AU, but I can't really tell at the moment. I might have tweaked everyone's personality a little, but I can't tell. And I uploaded this chapter as well since the prologue was short (and a little sad). For the time between locations, I honestly estimated. I took a screenshot of the map and labeled the areas on it and used it to estimate the distance and how long it might have taken for travel. Whether it's accurate or not I don't know. And I did come up with the capital's name of Salina (pronounced Sal-in-uh) because there is no name for it mentioned. There might be some small little towns and villages, but I've got to debate on them first. Will an royalty be showing up? Maybe. I truly don't know, but if they do it'll be a small part. And if it seems rushed, I do apologize since I'm bad at small details like that. Hopefully I can get better at it. **

**Like always if anyone does spot a small mistake I missed feel free to point it out.**


	3. Chapter 2

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN DUST: AN ELYSIAN TALE! IT BELONGS TO ITS ORIGINAL OWNER! I ONLY OWN RAPTURE!**

They stayed in Aurora Village for a couple more days to ensure the Moonbloods would not come back. The village guards assured them as the army left that they would be fine. The small army would trek to the entrance of Archer's Pass where some bombers would pick them up and return to the capital. The trip to Archer's Pass would take a couple weeks and from there a two day flight in the bombers. General Gaius was at the front, Dust next to him. Dust and Ahrah had spoken that night after discovering General Gauis was alive. Ahrah and Dust had talked the first night they encountered General Gauis and his army in Aurora Village. They both agreed that with the Moonbloods so hostile, trying to get to Elder Grey Eyes and speak to him would be close to impossible; even if the Moonbloods recognize him as a Sen-Mithrarin still. Ahrah wasn't even certain that going to the Moobloods would be wise at the moment, sensing that their hostility towards the Warmbloods might cloud their thinking and end up attacking Dust without realizing who he is. Another reason would be because General Gaius's soldiers were around and he didn't want to start any unnecessary fights or have them follow him to Everdawn Basin. Dust and General Gaius were chatting along the way to Archer's Pass, Dust pretending to be his friend Cassius as best he can.

"This reminds me of before you disappeared. The difference is is before we were stopping the Moonblood attacks. Now we're heading back to the capital for a little while," General Gaius said.

"Yes. It'll be nice to see Salina again," Dust responded.

"Your apprentice will be really happy to see you again, too," General Gaius told Dust.

"What do you mean 'apprentice'? I have an apprentice?" Dust questioned.

General Gaius had a dark look on his face, but it passed just as fast as it appeared. "Yes, you have an apprentice. Her name is Rapture and she has been your apprentice for six years."

_Cassius had an apprentice? _"What's she like?" Dust asked.

"She's a fast learner. She was ten when she became your apprentice and has learned allot since then. She's accomplished a few missions she was sent on, although they were rather easy scout missions. She's not old enough, however, to be on the battlefield so she stays behind when you go. Rapture is serious and stubborn at times, but other times she acts like a child. Her bad habit of staying up late at night sometimes to read a book has gotten her into more trouble that I can count when it came time for her training sessions. Your patience with her is outstanding. Normally you would not tolerate such behavior or have such patience, but I believe that her skills have surpassed your tolerance and had you find a little extra patience," General Gaius informed him.

"How did she even become my apprentice?"

"We were wandering through the city one day while she and her friends were playing. It was during their game that you noticed that her talents were similar to that of an assassin's. You knew her older brother was already in the army so you spoke to him about her. He even agreed with you and mentioned that she wanted to be an assassin when she was old enough to join. After speaking to her, she accepted the apprenticeship when she was a couple years older. Needless to say her parents were thrilled. After all, they, too, were soldiers just as were the rest of their lineage."

"It's easy to see where she gets her talents from. Her brother must have been happy to hear about that as well," Dust remarked.

"Indeed he was. When we thought you died a year ago, he pleaded that she not be informed until we were certain of it. He knew that she wouldn't believe it and might demand to search for you herself. Needless to say that she did exactly that when she was informed. The king refused her request, stating that he would not send her out on a useless mission after hearing the reports. She got reprimanded several times for trying to sneak out. Her training was transferred to another assassin as soon as she calmed down enough to continue."

"Will she still be my apprentice?"

"It depends. If it falls to her to make the decision of who will be her mentor, I believe she will choose you. You were her first mentor, Cassius, and thus she is just as loyal to you as she is to the king," General Gaius told him and laughed a little. "Of course, she has also been complaining about how her current mentor is boring and slow paced with the training."

"Then she'll be glad when she sees me I suppose," Dust said.

"Indeed she will be."

Two weeks later they had made it to Archer's Pass. Along the way they spotted Moonblood patrols, but they steered clear of them since they weren't causing trouble. The bomber planes were waiting at the base for them to arrive. Dust was a little uncertain, but he went aboard anyway to keep his cover. The pilots were surprised to see him and General Gaius told them what happened. Although they were relieved to see he was alright, they were worried about what supposedly happened to him. They stopped and rested at night and resumed their travel in the morning. On the second day they arrived at the capital. The palace towered over them as they landed on the castle grounds. Other soldiers gathered around to greet the returning group. They were surprised to see Dust, as they, too, mistakened him for Cassius. Dust wasn't used to any of this as he normally only had Fidget and Ahrah for company. He was grateful that at least General Gaius took over to shoo them off. It was only then that a shrill voice was heard shouting, "MASTER CASSIUS!"

Dust and General Gaius looked and saw a young grey wolf dressed in an assassin's uniform running towards them. She skidded to a stop in front of Dust, saying, "I knew it wasn't true! It just couldn't have been! I'm so happy to see you're alright, Master!"

"Um, hello," Dust said nervously. _Master? Is this Rapture?_

She tilted her head a little, asking, "Is everything ok, Master?

"Rapture, can I speak to you for a moment?" General Gaius said, taking her aside out of Dust's hearing range. Dust watched Rapture's face, going from a confused look to a shocked look then to an angry look. She said something back, but General Gaius shook his head and said something back.

"So that is Rapture. She is young and very energetic," Ahrah spoke up, no one else around to hear the sword speak.

"Yeah. She keeps calling me 'Master', though. I don't think I'm going to get used to that," Dust replied back.

"In order to pretend to be Cassius, it is something you'll have to get used to. I'm sure, though, that if you ask her she'll stop calling you that," Arah told him.

"I might do that," Dust said.

General Gaius and Rapture came back over, Rapture looking a little irritated. "Don't worry Master, I'll find the Moonbloods that did this and make sure they won't ever do that again."

"I told you already you will not. Disobey an order and I'm sure Cassius will have you do extra laps around the court yard again," General Gaius chided. "Now, why don't you go inform the royal physician that we'll be along shortly?"

Rapture gave a small growl in annoyance, but quickly left. General Gaius shook his head with a smile and led Dust through the castle, turning many corners before finally reaching a door. General Gaius opened the door and let Dust in first before entering and closing the door behind him. On one of the exam tables they saw Rapture sucking on a lollipop, her thick, fluffy tail twitching side to side. As she saw them walk in, she took the candy out of her mouth and said, "I already told them what you told me."

"Good, thank you. I know that you most likely ran out on your training session, so why don't you return and wait for us?" General Gaius told her.

"I'll tell the other apprentices that Master's back, too. Maybe I'll still have time to train with him," she replied, excited.

Rapture hopped off the table and darted out, still holding the candy in her hand. General Gaius sighed and shook his head. The doctor greeted them and told Dust to sit on one of the exam tables. About an hour later the doctor declared that he was in perfect health and only had amnesia. He said that with time and help it would eventually return. He even declared him well enough to resume Rapture's training, stating that the training routines may help trigger memories. With that said, General Gaius offered to show Dust where the training grounds were, Dust accepting the offer. They passed by a soldier and General Gaius whispered something to him, the soldier running off. They continued on their way until they heard the sounds of steel against steel. Stepping outside, they were greeted with the sounds of metal on metal as apprentices fought each other, testing their skills. It was easy to pick out Rapture among them. She was sparring with a young male fox roughly her age, his sword swings fluent and matching her strike for strike. She didn't seem to be struggling, instead she seemed to be studying. Dust watched as she parried a strike and closed the small gap between them, striking her foot at his chest. It was enough to wind and knock him down. Her training sword was at his throat as an older male raccoon declared the match in her favor.

"That is her current mentor, Captain Dusk. During the time you disappeared he took over her training. He's taught her some new techniques during the time you were gone, including analyzing her opponents moves," General Gaius informed Dust.

"I'm grateful he continued her teaching for me. Rapture will benefit from this later," he replied.

Captain Dusk noticed General Gaius and Dust and walked over, leaving Rapture and her opponent to take a small break. He nodded a greeting before saying, "Cassius, it's good to see you again. I'm assuming that since you're back you would like to take over Rapture's training again?"

"It's good to see you, too. And yes, please. If it's alright with her and you and his Highness approves of it." Dust said.

"I don't mind it at all and I'm certain he will. She's been excited to resume her teachings under you since you came back. I must say, it was a big surprise when she came running back here saying that you were back. We nearly didn't believe her until we heard that the others were saying the same thing," Captain Dusk said.

"It surprised us as well when we saw him. We nearly thought he was an impostor until we saw his skills in battle. His Highness's determination should be arriving soon in the meantime," General Gaius told them.

It was in that moment that a messenger arrived. The king approved of the switching of mentors from Captain Dusk back to Dust. They called Rapture over and told her the news. She jumped for joy and started bugging him when they would train and what he's going to teach her next. Dust replied that he would start the next day as their training time was nearly over. Rapture agreed to that and Captain Dusk told her to head back to training. She didn't argue and went back with General Gaius and Dust watching the sparring matches.

Later that night, General Gaius was in his office filling out paperwork. There was a knock at the and he told the person to come in. Rapture came in, shutting the door behind her.

"You asked to see me, General Gaius?" she asked.

"Yes, I did. I know you love reading books about myths and legends," he said.

"Yeah!" she confirmed.

"So I have a question. Do you happen to know what a Sen-Mithrarin is?"

"Sen-Mithrarin? I've never heard of that. Why do you ask?"

"It's nothing. I thought I heard a Moonblood say something like that. Perhaps I misheard him."

"I wouldn't doubt that they said something like that. Knowing them they having something up their sleeve. Would you like me to see what I can find about it or ask Master Cassius and see what he knows?" Rapture asked.

"No, thank you though. Go ahead and head back to bed, Rapture. You have a busy day tomorrow with training," General Gaius told her, adding as an afterthought as she started to leave, "and no reading tonight."

Rapture gave a quick alright and left, leaving General Gaius to finish up his paperwork.

**AN: So I have introduced my FC Rapture. If it's weird that she's an apprentice to Cassius, well, I liked the idea ^^; After all, who knows if he had one or not? But as one can see she does have a small habit of staying up late reading various books, mostly ones about myths and legends. And it does land her in some trouble... frequently.**


	4. Chapter 3

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN DUST: AN ELYSIAN TALE! IT BELONGS TO ITS ORIGINAL OWNER! I ONLY OWN RAPTURE!**

The next day Dust headed towards the training grounds to begin training with Rapture. He felt weird there, unused to the soldiers giving him friendly greeting instead of attacking him. He felt that at any moment they would find out who he really was and attack him. When he reached the training grounds he saw Rapture over in a corner further away from everyone. As soon as he got over there she greeted him with a good morning. He had her start out with warm-ups before he had her move on to swordplay. He asked her what she was currently learning and her reply was fighting while outnumbered. He could understand that as it can get pretty tough, deadly even, when you're outnumbered. It was important that she learned the skill so that she could protect herself should she need to. Dust told her he'd be back and went to talk to the other mentors. After a few agreed to the training session he went back over to Rapture. He gave her one of the training swords that was laying nearby and told the apprentices that would be the "enemies" the rules as well as Rapture.

When Dust gave the signal to begin they started attacking in formation. They weren't making it easy for her as she constantly had to switch her attention to another opponent. Even though there were only three against her, it was still proving to be a struggle for her. Dust watched as she dodged one attack only to land in the way of another. She wasn't fairing well against them and by the time he called for a quick break, she had some minor bruises where the blows had landed.

"I knew I should have worked on that while he was gone," Rapture quietly berated to herself. "Now I'm just simply embarrassing myself in font of Master on my first day of training with him again."

"Looks like she's beating herself up again," one of the mentors observed, a black and white badger.

"Over the same thing as well. Rapture always was a poor learner at fighting against an ambush no matter how many times she was taught the lesson," another agreed.

Upon hearing this Dust asked, "She's having trouble learning how to handle an ambush?"

"She's always had trouble with ambushes. There were times when you would attack her from behind to try and teach her and she would end up defeated. Even her brother has admitted that she has trouble learning it," replied the badger mentor.

The other mentor, a brown mink, added, "Rapture's been mad about it since she knows that one going into this kind of field in the military requires knowing how to handle ambushes. She fears she'll fail as a student of yours, especially since getting a mentor such as you is near impossible. She was hoping to overcome that problem before you returned."

"I'll have to talk to her about it. I think a little extra training might help her," Dust said as he called Rapture over. "It is something that she'll overcome in time with help."

"Yes, Master Cassius?" she said as she came close enough. She looked a little worried.

"I've noticed you were having trouble during this training session. I also heard from the other mentors that this is a typical problem for you," Dust said.

The young grey wolf nodded her head. "I'm sorry I haven't improved on it at all. I-I've been trying though, but..."

"It's something that takes time. Sometimes it takes longer for some than it does for others. All you need is some more practice," Dust told her, easing some of her worry.

"That's what you said before you went off to the front lines. You spent eight months training me on it, but I failed still. How can you still keep me as your apprentice?" she asked.

"Because you have potential. I wouldn't have chosen you if I didn't think you had any," Dust told her. He had a feeling that Cassius picked her for his apprentice because of that. It brightened her mood though and she ran off to join the other apprentices.

They trained all morning and a little into the afternoon, stopping only for a couple breaks and lunch. Some of the training included ambush tactics, most of which she ended up failing. At the end both of them were tired and bruised. Dust sent Rapture to get cleaned up after they returned the training weapons. She quickly hurried off, giving a quick greeting to General Gaius as she passed by him. Dust watched as he approached him and they exchanged a greeting when he was close enough.

"I see your first day of training with her went well," General Gaius said.

"Yes, it did. We're working on her weakness in ambushes. She was really worried that I'd be mad that she hasn't improved on that," Dust replied.

"She worries about that allot. It's important she learns how to handle herself when she's ambushed."

"Rapture so far passed two of the training courses."

"That's good. And by the way, there's a new apprentice joining the training sessions now," General Gaius informed Dust.

"Who?" Dust asked.

"Prince Karst will be joining the training sessions," he replied.

"Prince Karst?" Dust asked. He remembered seeing him in the throne room next to his parents. He heard that he had private training sessions as well as private lessons. Why would he join the regular training sessions?

As if he read Dust's mind General Gaius told him, "Apparently Prince Karst is wanting to join the regular sessions because he said the private ones are getting boring. He wants to be able to train with other apprentices instead of a training dummy it seems. It is a surprise, but starting tomorrow he'll be joining the training sessions."

"Alright. It'll be interesting to have a training session with him and see how he is," Dust said.

"His training is one of the best. Most likely he'll pair up with some of the more elite apprentices during training. Rapture might even have a chance of training with him. It's an honor for him to be joining the regular training sessions as very few of the royalty ever join," General Gaius told Dust.

"I'm sure all the apprentices will be wanting to train with him. It'll be a good experience for not only them but for the Prince as well," Dust agreed.

"Indeed. He'll get to know those he'll be leading better and their fighting styles. Prince Karst will be like his parents. He will be a good leader as well as a good fighter."

**AN: Almost a month later and I finally update this. Well, I had this chapter a quarter of the way written since November so... XD I've still been trying to find a decent plot for this and how exactly I should go about each chapter and sadly it's not easy x_x At least I've got a few parts already in mind. I'm also trying to keep the chapters long enough so that they don't seem short.**

**But I have introduced someone royal: Prince Karst. I wasn't quite sure about adding him at first, but I decided to in the end to add him. At first I decided to add no royalty at all, but when I'm thinking about how to type up the chapters (as well as a decent plot) and I'm reading a section in my physical science book about karst regions, it just kinda came to me XD**

**And thanks Alpha 001 for reviewing! I'm glad you like the idea of the role swap for Dust. And yeah, I figured giving him an apprentice would be a good addition as since we don't know if Cassius actually had one it would be interesting for him to have one. Since Rapture has been training under Cassius for six years it'll make even more interesting to see if she notices that Dust isn't actually Cassius. As for the grammatical errors, I'll go back through and see if I can find and fix them. Thanks for pointing them out.  
**


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